1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shielded electrical connector that is adapted to be mounted on a printed circuit board, and more particularly, to a new and improved right angle shielded electrical connector with a shield having improved printed circuit board grounding tabs retained on its mating end and with a tail aligner supporting the tail portions of terminals in the electrical connector and having mounting tabs for maintaining the electrical connector on the printed circuit board until the tail portions of the terminals are soldered to the printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Right angle connectors are adapted to be mounted on a printed circuit board to interconnect the circuits on the printed circuit board to complementary connectors that mate with the right angle connector. Each of the terminals disposed in the right angle connector has a mating portion located in a mating end of the connector that extends generally parallel to the printed circuit board when the connector is mounted on the printed circuit board. Each of the terminals also has a tail portion that extends into the printed circuit board generally at a right angle to the plane of the printed circuit board. These tail portions extend from the connector into plated holes in the printed circuit board so that they may be soldered in the plated holes in order to couple circuits on the printed circuit board to the terminals in the electrical connector.
The tail portions of the terminals tend to be very thin and therefore fragile. As a result, it is advantageous to support the tail portions so that they will be properly aligned with the plated holes in the printed circuit board when the connector is mounted on the printed circuit board. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,744,771 and 4,857,017, components are disclosed that are used to support the tail portions of terminals that are to be inserted into a printed circuit board or the like. However, these components do not have any type of mounting tabs extending therefrom for maintaining the connector on the printed circuit board until the terminals are soldered to the printed circuit board.
In certain applications, the front or mating end of the electrical connector also is provided with a shield. Shields for mounting about a front or mating end of a connector housing are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,718,866; 4,789,357 and 4,838,811. Any such shield must not only be secured about the front or mating end of the electrical connector housing, but also must be connected to the printed circuit board on which the electrical connector is to be mounted. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,721,473; 4,842,528; 4,842,529; 4,842,552; and 4,850,885 as well as PCT application No. WO 89/08339 and German Patent No. DE 37 38 545 A1 illustrate various types of grounding mechanisms utilized in coupling a shield of an electrical connector to a printed circuit board. While these patents and applications do disclose shields that may be mounted about the front mating end of an electrical connector, the shields do not have integral grounding tabs that have an improved configuration to assure that the grounding tabs are properly soldered to ground circuits on the printed circuit board.